


you've got love, and you're alive

by charlesworthy



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: Fluff, Fortune Telling, M/M, brown henry, hand holding, rarepair hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 06:41:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10803858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlesworthy/pseuds/charlesworthy
Summary: A contented sigh exited Knoll's nose. Henry offered his hand out, and Knoll took it, gently. "No, not quite."He paused, turning Henry's hand over. "Well, I suppose some may merely examine the lines and draw conclusions from that, but it typically isn't very accurate, or it--" He stopped himself. "I... should stay quiet if you want me to read your palm."Henry giggled. "Nah, keep going. You're--"The Plegian mage turned his head away. His smile was gentle. "Y-you're cute when you get like that."--or: my favorite rarepair is now available on ao3





	you've got love, and you're alive

**Author's Note:**

> i can't believe i've never posted anything for them here, but... this is my favorite ship of like all time. thanks for being curious enough to check it out, i hope you enjoy <3

"So is palm reading a real thing or not?"

Henry's inquiry came as a surprise, as it usually did. Knoll had been spending time examining one of the few tomes Henry said he always kept. It was a battered medical text detailing in gory (literally gory, at some point Henry had gotten blood on nearly every page of it) detail where and how the various organs worked. It seemed very old, Knoll was curious how outdated it may be, or if it would surprise him by granting him knowledge he hadn't found yet.

Henry had preoccupied himself with a dead crow. He hadn't said how it died, but it was just as likely to be his fault than otherwise. This didn't bother Knoll. Perhaps it should have.

Outside, the gentle pitter-patter of rain on the canvas of their shared tent filled the silent air between them.

"As a form of divination, you mean?" Knoll responded. "Somewhat. I don't prefer it, though I know how to do it."

Henry set the crow down beside him and scooted closer to Knoll. Their knees touched. "Is it really just as easy as looking at my hand?"

He was already undoing the cloth covering his right hand, rolling up his sleeve as high as it would go, which was far past his elbow. Knoll caught a glimpse of light splotches covering his dark skin, but averted his eyes. Henry's scars were his own, and just as Henry allowed Knoll to speak at his leisure, he would grant Henry the same.

A contented sigh exited Knoll's nose. Henry offered his hand out, and Knoll took it, gently. "No, not quite."

He paused, turning Henry's hand over. "Well, I suppose some may merely examine the lines and draw conclusions from that, but it typically isn't very accurate, or it--" He stopped himself. "I... should stay quiet if you want me to read your palm."

Henry giggled. "Nah, keep going. You're--"

The Plegian mage turned his head away. His smile was gentle. "Y-you're cute when you get like that."

One of Knoll's hands shot up and covered his mouth. He blushed brightly, and took a short moment to fully recover.

The _magic_ between him and Henry had always been subtle, though it was no surprise that Henry would break that somehow. It felt... Like a weird knife through Knoll's chest. It didn't hurt, but it was a glaring reminder that whatever they had been doing, whatever they shared, and no matter how flippant Henry could be about it, it -- _they_ were undeniable.

"I-I..." Knoll was at a loss for words. "Th... Thank you."

His voice was so quiet. Henry regarded him without a smile, but it slowly returned, bright as always. "You don't have to _thank_ me. That's silly!"

He shifted in his position again, wiggling his hand at the wrist to remind Knoll of what they were doing. "If anything, I should probably be thanking you! For a lot of things, but... Well, that's not here nor there. I don't wanna get all sappy on you."

Knoll didn't say it, but he appreciated that too.

"As I was saying..." A sweet smile curved his lips as he placed both hands on Henry's, touch gentle. "Many... False fortune tellers may make up things for coin. It's easy to tell the future people want to hear, far easier than the one they may be destined to face.”

As he spoke, Knoll traced a finger down the center of Henry's palm. His touch was so soft that Henry hardly felt it. He was enamored by it, staring at Knoll's hands around his own. A small tickle lingered where Knoll had touched.

“Oh, I see,” Henry said. A little bit of magic. Were Henry not the experienced hexer, he might not even have noticed it. It seemed the kind of magic most mages would ignore, the kind of spell Henry preferred for its deadly surprise. It was a bit like Knoll himself, in that respect.

“Of course.” The statement was merely an acknowledgment of Henry's own. There was a brief pause, in which Knoll's fingers ghosted over the meat of Henry's palm. He let out a short, amused hum. It pulled Henry physically towards him. “Can you feel it? I'd think you'd like reading palms if you knew how.”

“Ah~” Henry concentrated on the tiny sliver Knoll sent into his skin. “I feel it.”

“You might say... It's like reading blood instead of stars.”

Henry gasped, then giggled. Suddenly, he felt a little light headed. “ _Really_?” his voice was thick with its usual mirth, and then some. “Nyaha! That sounds like fun!”

Knoll had always preferred to read the stars. They held many more fortunes than that he could find in some one's hand. Not only did they hold guidance for him, but they had larger-scaled predictions. At times, they'd told Knoll how a battle would fare, or had helped him avoid a particularly nasty event. Maybe, then, all his divination had been selfish, for a time. He hadn't held enough interest in others to want to read many palms. Funny, then, that Henry didn't need to twist his arm at all on this. Funny, but expected.

“You may be disappointed,” Knoll warned. A smile still pulled at his lips as his fingers traced down another line of Henry's palm. “I'm afraid this kind of divination is never vague enough to be fully satisfying.”

If Henry didn't understand Knoll's meaning, he didn't say a thing. Instead, he left the shaman to actually set about the task.

Knoll was suddenly nervous. Reading a stranger's fortune was nothing. A random woman getting married to the man of her dreams didn't affect Knoll. He didn't care. If Henry were to have such a fate... Where would that leave Knoll?

In Henry's palm, he saw a long life. It set Knoll a bit at ease, bringing the small upturn of his lips back on his face. Henry wouldn't like it, though – or would he? The dark mage had been surprising Knoll in many ways recently. Perhaps...

He saw some one beside Henry, hands linked. He saw Henry kissing their neck, laughing with them, wrapping his arms around their waist and hugging them tighter than Knoll could imagine. He could _feel_ arms around his own waist, it was such a vivid vision, Knoll felt breathless.

His eyes fluttered open and his fingers gently uncurled Henry's, straightening them. He saw a cozy cabin far off in the woods, bothered by only the forest inhabitants. When the windows were open, a gentle breeze brought in the smell of pine, and the bed was big enough for two but Henry sleeps on it, with some one, like it would only fit one.

His fingers moved to trace the outline of Henry's palm, and then he stopped, abruptly. He said nothing, but his fingers moved to the center of Henry's palm, tracing the pit of a deep, pink scar.

Henry's hand twitched, causing Knoll to withdraw his touch. “Sorry, I got distracted. It's been so long, I forgot how vivid the visions could be...”

“It's fine, Knoll!” Henry seemed completely unfazed. “It's just a little scar. No big deal.”

“M-may I..?”

“Mm? That one's just... I cut off a girl's ponytail in class once! We were dissecting frogs that day, so she whirled around and made a pass at me. Nyaha! The scalpel nearly cut all the way through! If I hadn't put my hand up, I might've been down a nose.”

He was so nonchalant about it... Perhaps it was really just a childhood memory.

Henry twisted his hand again and flexed his fingers. “Yeah, I came up with a little hex to help it heal better. I'm not sure I'd be able to hold a pen otherwise. As a side effect, it sometimes aches when it rains, but that's pretty normal for an injury.”

Knoll's mouth felt dry. He suddenly remembered the rain outside, increasing in tempo and strength. Did it ache now?

“So did you see anything?”

He pursed his lips, considering how to tell him. The figure in the visions with Henry... It couldn't have been Knoll. He refused to entertain the thought, to put the idea in his own mind to just taunt him in the future.

“Your blood says...” And he worded it this way to entertain Henry. Even though the other was always smiling, letting the bell of his laughter ring like a birdsong, Knoll liked giving him something small to be amused with. “That you should eat more vegetables.”  
For a moment, he was silent, and then a peel of laughter escaped Henry's lips. “It does not! _Liar_!”

Knoll chuckled too. Henry had rocked back and forth on his hips, seemingly always animated.

“What did it really say?”

“Remember, I said you might be disappointed,” he cautioned again. “Well, I saw you... living a very long life.”

“Was I _miserable_?” Henry's tone suggested he wanted the answer to be yes.

Knoll sighed. Perhaps, if he considered being in love miserable, though if that were the case surely the figure would have been himself. “No, Henry.” His tone was gentle, a little amused. “You weren't.”

“No? How?”

Knoll searched his mind for a convincing lie. What would make Henry happy? What would keep him happy for such a long time? For all Henry was, he could be flighty and easily distracted. Something to keep his interest for such a long time... was there even such a thing?

“Were you there?” Henry asked.

Knoll's heart pounded in his chest. “I... I don't...” He didn't know what to say, or how to respond. “I don't know.”

“I thought you said it wasn't that vague! Nyaha!” Henry shifted again, seemingly content without fixing his sleeve, and pulled away from the position he'd been sitting in. Did he need some time alone, or did--

He was just moving, sitting close to Knoll, wrapping an arm about Knoll's shoulder and resting his head on the other's shoulder.

“I hope it was you,” he said suddenly, softly. The rain above their heads continued, and Knoll realized Henry's set his hand on Knoll's leg. The naked one, tiny scars littering sundry places about Henry's dark skin. Knoll took it again, but this time it was for himself, not for Henry.

“Does this ache?”

Henry hummed. “Not right now.” He twisted his hand, lacing his fingers together with Knoll's. “Not like this.”

 


End file.
